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Saleh forces kill 12, abduct women

19 October 2011 03:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Forces loyal to Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh kill at least 12 people and injure dozens more besides abducting female demonstrators during their attacks on demonstrations in the capital Sana’a, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Mohammed al-Qubati, the director of a field hospital at the Change Square in Sana’a, said on Tuesday that a dozen had been killed and over 70 wounded during the crackdown on the protests demanding Saleh’s resignation, the Associated Press reported.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the city, led by shirtless young men with the words "Leave ... you butcher" scrawled across their chests in reference to Saleh.

Regime troops attacked the protesters with live ammunition and tear gas canisters.

According to an activist, troopers from the elite Republican Guard, which is led by Saleh’s son Ahmed, abducted four female protesters, who were leading the main demonstration.

Abdel-Rahman Berman, activist with Yemen-based National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, said a team dispatched by the organization saw that the regime forces and thugs abducting the females as well as some wounded demonstrators in a ’shameful and criminal way.’

Similar demonstrations were also held elsewhere in the country, including the major southern cities of Aden and Taizz.

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular protest rallies in Yemen’s major cities since late January, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment, while demanding the ouster of Saleh’s regime.

Saleh has already been in office for more than 30 years with several opposition members arguing that his long-promised reforms have not been implemented.

Hundreds of Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured during regime-ordered crackdown since the onset of the popular uprising.

Repeating their demands during the recent protest, the public urged that the US-backed Saleh be put on trial for ordering the killings of pro-democracy demonstrators.

Also on Tuesday, the UN Security Council started debating a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire on the part of the regime as well as transfer of power in the country.